Thailand's Favorite Sauce for Meats - Nam Jim Jeaw

Give Thai people a piece of meat and we're going to ask, "Where's the nam jim jeaw?" Nam jim jeaw is Thai people's #1 go-to sauce for all kinds of meats, especially grilled meats. A must-have for any Thai barbecue, but it's also amazing on steaks, roast chicken, or pork chops. It's also easy to make and can be made in advance!

What is Nam Jim Jeaw?

Nam jim jeaw is the classic Thai dipping sauce for all manner of meats, especially grilled meats. It's made from fish sauce, lime juice and/or tamarind, sugar, dried chilies, toasted rice powder and fresh herbs. The spicy acidity, with toasted rice aroma and fresh herbs, makes it the perfect thing to enhance and balance the richness of meats.

Nam jim means dipping sauce and jeaw also means dipping sauce, but in the Northeastern Thai dialect! This is because the sauce originated in Northeastern Thailand, but it quickly spread to the rest of the country due to its ease, versatility, and deliciousness. So nam jim jeaw essentially means "the dipping sauce from the Northeast"!

Ingredients

There aren't many ingredients for nam jim jeaw, and they're all staples in Thai cuisine!

• Fish sauce. See my post here on how to choosing good fish sauce
• Tamarind. Store bought tamarind paste (aka tamarind concentrate) is fine, just be sure to buy one from Thailand. If you want to make your own from pulp it is easy! Follow my guide to making homemade tamarind.
• Lime juice.
• Palm sugar or white sugar. Read all about palm sugar here!
• Toasted chili flakes. You can buy store bought chili flakes and toast in a dry pan briefly until smokey, or toast whole chilies (arbol is a good choice) and then grind. The toasting is optional, but adds a nice smokiness.
• Shallots.
• Toasted rice powder. This is absolutely key to this recipe! Adds an iconic toasty aroma that makes all the difference. It's made simply by toasting raw rice (pictured) in a dry skillet and then grinding it.
• Fresh herbs, commonly green onion and cilantro, though mint, sawtooth coriander or even dill can be used.

How to Make Nam Jim Jeaw

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, for amounts and detailed instructions, see the recipe card below!

1. If making toasted chili flakes from whole chilies, toast them in a dry skillet over medium high heat for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until some charred spots form on the chilies. You can also toast store bought chili flakes in this way.
2. Grind the chilies in a coffee grinder or spice grinder.
3. Make the toasted rice powder by toasting the rice in a dry pan over high heat, stirring constantly, until dark brown.
4. Grind into a powder using a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle.

5. Combine the fish sauce, tamarind, lime juice, and palm sugar or white sugar.
6. Stir until most of the sugar is dissolved. Any stubborn chunks of palm sugar should dissolve in 5 minutes or so as it sits in the liquid.
7. Add the shallots, toasted rice powder, chilies, and fresh herbs.
8. It's now ready to use!

• "Original" All-Purpose Jeaw. When in doubt, this is the one to make. A good balance of salty, sour, and sweet that will go with most thing; especially BBQ chicken, steak, and pork jowl. It has a bit of a thicker body so it will cling well to meats when dipped.
• Light Jeaw. Made to be lighter in body with more lime juice, it will cling lightly to meats when dipped, making it perfect for thin, delicate pieces of meat such as in hot pot. It is also less sweet and more tart and salty, which helps it cut the grease of very fatty meat such as pork belly, or meat that is already quite sweet.
• Mellower Tomato Jeaw. The original jeaw is very intense, making it easy for those unfamiliar to overdo it. So I came up with a mellower version with the addition of diced tomatoes that people can more generously spoon onto their meat.

What to Serve with Nam Jim Jeaw

Some classic dishes that are always served with nam jim jeaw are:

• Thai BBQ chicken (gai yang). This is a staple in my house, and you can bake the chicken instead as well.
• Grilled steaks. We love it so much that even some Western steak houses will offer nam jim jeaw alongside gravy because some Thai people (me included) just cannot have meat without it!
• Grilled pork jowl.
• Northeastern Thai hot pot (aka jim jum or jeaw hon). Since the pieces are delicate, we use the lighter jeaw for this one.
• Crispy pork belly, I especially love it with crispy pork belly because the jeaw cuts the fat so well that you'll be able to enjoy it without it feeling overly greasy. I also recommend the light version for this.

But really, any meat, Thai or not, can benefit from nam jim jeaw. Try it on roast beef, roast chicken, or even some firm-flesh fatty fish such as salmon, trout, or mackerel.

Storage and Advance Prep

Storage: You can keep leftover nam jim jeaw in the fridge for up to a week. The herbs will look wilted, of course, and the sauce will thicken slightly because the rice will have absorbed some liquid, but it will still taste fine. So ideally, you don't want to make more than you need. But you can....

Make nam jim jeaw "base" in bulk! If you want quick and easy access to nam jim jeaw you can absolutely make a bunch of the "base" ahead of time and keep it in the fridge. You simply need to omit a couple of things:

• Leave out the leafy herbs and add when serving. Otherwise the herbs will look dodgy within a day. If you're lazy you can definitely serve the sauce without the herbs at all.
• Leave out the toasted rice powder and add when serving. You can toast the rice ahead of time and keep it whole in a jar. When ready to serve, grind it up and add to the sauce. The aroma of toasted rice is fleeting so you don't want to add it far ahead of time.